Geordies in the smog: Middlesbrough v Newcastle match preview.
Posted on March 12th, 2010 | 59 Comments |
Newcastle haven’t had the best of times at the Riverside recently, failing to win on our last 3 trips to Teeside and this outing could be another tricky one as Middlesbrough are unbeaten at home since boxing day. In fact traditionally Newcastle have always struggled on Teeside. Of the 62 games played there, ‘Boro have won 28 times, 19 have ended up a draw and the Toon have mustered only 15 wins.
As we have been getting closer to the match, the ‘derby’ day feeling has been flooding forward. It’s not the derby of course, but it’s the closest we’ll get this season and players such as Danny Simpson, Peter Lovenkrands and Kevin Nolan have all had their pieces to say about the match. Nolan is expected to captain the side in tomorrow’s game and knows how crucial the match could be:
“We’ve had to be up for every game this season, but it does add a bit of extra spice with them only being down the road.”
Middlesbrough boss Gordon Strachan believes his side are due a result and will be looking to spring an upset and boost his own team’s play-off chances. The Scot said:
“We haven’t got the results we have deserved lately, but I’m sure everybody is looking forward to enjoying the derby atmosphere at the weekend. It will be terrific if we can take the three points.”
Middlesbrough have a rake of injury concerns ahead of Saturday afternoon’s match. Jeremie Aliadiere, Tony McMahon, Seb Hines and Matthew Bates are all definately out whilst Willo Flood and Emanuel Pogatetz look likely to miss out. Chris Riggott and Scott McDonald will undergo tests before the match to see if they are fit enough to play.Rhys Williams is back fit and ready to play a role in ‘Boro’s midfield so I’d expect the starting XI to line up like:
‘Boro – Coyne, Naughton, Wheater, McManus, Taylor, O’Neil, Williams R., Robson, Arca, Killen, McDonald.
Newcastle have Jose Enrique and Wayne Routledge back in training although it is yet to be confirmed if either will be deemed fit enough for the short trip down the A19. Of the two, I’d expect Enrique has the stronger chance of featuring as he has only really missed a couple of days training whilst Routledge has been out for three weeks but could be named in the squad.
Alan Smith is still rated as doubtful as he nurses the ankle knock that kept him out of last week’s 6-1 win over Barnsley. He will join long term absentees Steven Taylor, Joey Barton and Shola Ameobi on the sidelines.
It’s hard to pick a team for this one. Logic dictates that the team that won 6-1 last time out should be given another chance to impress although, as we all know, we could easily switch to a 4-5-1 should manager Chris Hughton decide to keep things tight and try to sneak a winner. I’d prefer to see last weeks team again so we can give the ‘Boro something to think about, something to fear. With that in mind I’d go with:
Newcastle – Harper, Simpson, Colocinni, Williamson, Enrique, Pancrate, Nolan, Guthrie, Gutierrez, Carroll, Lovenkrands.
Refereeing the match will be Lee Mason from Bolton who has shown 87 yellow cards and five red cards in his 29 matches so far this season. In fact he has produced a card in his last 52 matches.
It will be a tight affair, these matches generally are, but if we can get the win then it would be a big boost in our aim of promotion as this looks like, on paper, our toughest away game of the remainder of the season. Even a draw wouldn’t be the end of the world.
My prediction – Middlesbrough 1-2 Newcastle.
If we play to our potential then there is a good chance of grabbing the 3 points. Around 3,600 (officially) Mags will be on Teesside screaming on the team, of these our very own Bowburnmag will be one and I’m sure the players won’t want to disappoint the travelling Geordies.
Howay the lads!
Venue: Riverside Stadium
Date: Saturday, 13 March 2010,
Kick-off: 3:00 pm.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
I’ll do a “Toonsy” – got a bad feeling about this one.
They will be fired up and their 2-headed fans will be as well. I think they have the potential to play thuggish football and hope we don’t get any injuries.
I’d be happy with a fighting point.